The Willis Organ of St. Mary’s Espiscopal Cathedral is organist’s Wayne Marshall’s second album on Base2 Music at NativeDSD.  It follows his earlier release Passion Symphony, a Pure DSD release.

During the 2021 Edinburgh festival, Wayne Marshall OBE came to conduct the show A Grand Night for Singing by Rodgers and Hammerstein. St. Mary’s Episcopal cathedral heard Wayne was in town and invited him to perform a recital on the Father Willis organ, restored by Harrison and Harrison in 2020. The main piece on the album is the ‘Prelude and Fugue in D Major’ by Bratislavan composer Franz Schmidt. The Pastoral by Jean Roger-Ducasse is only on this Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD edition, and a live recording with audience of an improvisation by Wayne Marshall on two Scottish themes.

The album was recorded in DXD in Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound.  It is available at NativeDSD.Com in Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512.  The DSD 256, DSD 128 and DXD editions of the album are exclusively available from NativeDSD.

Wayne Marshall – Organist

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Vivaldi and Locatelli Performed by a Rising Star

Rising star violinist Chloe Chua makes her recording debut on Pentatone together with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by Concertmaster Chan Yoong-Han, presenting Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Locatelli’s Harmonic Labyrinth.

With the Four Seasons, Chloe returns to a piece that’s very dear to her, Vivaldi’s Winter, and which she won the joint-first prize at the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists with. Despite her young age, Chua performs regularly with several world-class ensembles and enjoys a huge following on social media thanks to her breathtaking technique and charismatic stage personality.

This album, recorded as Artist-in-Residence of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, launches her international recording career.  Exclusively available in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD at NativeDSD Music.  Not available on SACD.

Chloe Chua, Violin
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Chan Yoong-Han, Concertmaster

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From the Booklet

“We love exploring different kinds of sound colors and other ways of expressing ourselves through 17th-century music. In the very beginning we focused mostly on early Italian baroque music for small chamber music settings. More recently, we started broadening both our repertoire and the size of our ensemble. For each program we look for a sound (and instrumentation) that is most convincing for the music we play. In ‘Fantastissimus’ we challenged ourselves even more by working together with a contemporary composer, something that we enjoyed very much.”

“We felt that there was a lot of space for creative freedom in the making of the program. Martijn Padding was very interested in hearing our favorite repertoire, and we presented many compositions to him that connected with the Stylus Phantasticus in one way or another.

Inspired by all of those composers, Martijn composed his own ‘Stylus Phantasticus’ collection, and we looked for the best early music to combine with Martijn’s finished work. While selecting these pieces, we did not want to constrain ourselves too much by focusing on only one short period in history. Our aim was to find music that would naturally weave through Martijn’s pieces. We approached the complete program as a composition in itself, resembling both the Stylus Phantasticus and our ensemble’s spirit.”

Castello Consort

Elise Dupont, Violin
Willem van der Sijde (Amsterdam, 1691). On loan from the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds.

Anne-Linde Visser, Viola da Gamba & Cello
Gamba: Anton Wiegers (Dussen, 1980). Cello: Henry Jay (London, c.1750).

Matthijs van der Moolem, Sackbut
Aron Vajna, after anonymous Italian instrument (c.1560) in the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona
(Basel, 2021). Played with a copy of the mouthpiece from the same collection, attributed to Schnitzer.

Menno van Delft, Organ
Orgelmakerij Reil, after 17h-century North Italian examples (Heerde, 2020).

Emma Huijsser, Harp
Dario Pontiggia, after Barberini (early 17th century) in the Museo degli Strumenti Musicali di Roma.

Giulio Quirici, Theorbo
Jaume Bosser Artal, after Matteo Sellas (Barcelona, 2013). Given name: Ludovica.

Sakura Goto, Violin
Anonymous (probably Tyrol, c.1800).

Benny Aghassi, Dulcian
K. Bickhardt & B. Junghänel (Germany, c.1985).

Alon Portal, Viola da Gamba
François Bodart, after Nicholas Bertrand, (Belgium, 1990).

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This edition of the Symphony by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs was first performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle in September 2022. The recording completes a set of three albums which also features Cohrs’ editions of Bruckner’s Fourth and Sixth symphonies – also available at NativeDSD.Com

Making use of Bruckner’s discarded fragments and lesser-known material through his many revisions, this set of albums is a must-listen for lovers of Bruckner’s music, and gives us a glimpse into the composer’s untold musical thoughts.

Conducting Bruckner, says Rattle, “Is a lifelong quest for some “extraordinary vista, some wonderful moment which leads you out of this world”. This certainly rings true for Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, the opening theme for which is said to have come to him in a dream, played by an angel. This huge, glowing mountain-range of sound is all at once majestic, reverent and terrifying.

London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

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Verdi: Otello is a Double Album featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus and 9 Soloists including Simon O’Neill, Gerald Finley and Anne Schwanewilms conducted by Sir Colin Davis.  The performance was called “an electrifying account of a masterpiece, conducted with an explosive energy that belies Sir Colin’s eighty years and pushed the LSO to the top of its game.”

Verdi had retired from opera following the premiere of Aida in 1871 but was eventually persuaded by his publisher to work with the librettist Arrigo Boito. As with Falstaff, Verdi’s final opera on which they would subsequently collaborate, they turned to Shakespeare for inspiration. Otello, which was premiered in 1887, marked a significant evolutionary development in Italian opera and is widely regarded as one of the great operatic masterpieces.

Sir Colin Davis, Conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Chorus

Soloists
Simon O’Neill, Tenor
Gerald Finley, Bass-Baritone
Anne Schwanewilms, Soprano
Allan Clayton, Tenor
Ben Johnson, Tenor
Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Bass
Matthew Rose, Bass
Lukas Jakobski, Bass
Eufemia Tufano, Mezzo-Soprano

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The manuscripts may be found in the Gunnerus Library’s special collections and probably belonged to the town musician and polymath Johan Daniel Berlin and his circle of musicians. They provide a unique insight into how European instrumental music found fertile ground in one of Denmark and Norway’s largest provincial towns in the decades preceding the union’s dissolution in 1814.

As the eighteenth century progressed, Trondheim experienced strong economic growth. The Great Nordic War was over, and merchants set about exporting timber, stockfish, and copper from the mines of Trøndelag. They maintained close contact with their networks in the main cities of Northern Europe, and Trondheim’s luxury and extravagance characterized its social milieu. Thus, the latest fashions, literature and music from the Continent found their way to Trondheim.

This album is available at NativeDSD in Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512.

Produced with support from Norsk kulturfond, Kulturdirektoratet, Torstein Erbos gavefond, Trondheim Kommune, Fond for Utøvede Kunstnere, Fond for Lyd og Bilde

Featured in blog post Notes on Recent Finds, No. 9 – Endless Bounty from NativeDSD by music reviewer Rushton Paul.

Baroque Ensemble of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
Sigurd Imsen, Solo Violin
Renata Kubala, Violin
Cecilia Wåhlberg, Violin
Verona Rapp, Viola
Torleif Holm, Cello
Fredrik Blikeng, Violone
Thomas C. Boysen, Lute & Theorbo
Gunnhild Tønder, Cembalo & Organ
Christina Kobb, Fortepiano

NOTICE: For the time being, Dolby Atmos MKV dowloads are provided as direct download dropbox links and are not available for download through the downloader app. The download link will be supplied at checkout.

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Blomstedt and the orchestra bring out all the different moods and colors of this exceptional work. While the Academic Festival Overture provides a jubilant, glorious conclusion. Blomstedt’s work as a conductor is inseparably linked to his religious and human ethos. His interpretations combine great faithfulness to the score and analytical precision with a soulfulness that awakens the music to pulsating life.

In the more than sixty years of his career, he has acquired the unrestricted respect of the musical world. The Gewandhausorchester Leipzig is the oldest civic orchestra in the world with a glorious history, and is still counted among the world’s leading ensembles. Their Pentatone debut with Brahms’ First Symphony and Tragic Overture (2020) received rave reviews.

Purchase all three albums in this Brahms Symphony Cycle for 30% off with the Brahms Symphonies DSD Bundle!

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Herbert Blomstedt, Conductor

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Following the success of his Fifth Symphony, all eyes were on Shostakovich to create a work that would measure up to its predecessor. The Sixth was originally intended as an immense musical monument to Lenin, to be woven with heroic melodies and folk songs. Instead his audiences were surprised to hear a quite different result—a contemplative, restrained first movement that morphs puzzlingly into a ferocious ending.

The Fifteenth is another of Shostakovich’s musical enigmas, with inexplicable quotes from music by Rossini, Glinka and Wagner dotted throughout, alongside references to his own music from his younger years. Written in 1970–71 when the composer’s health was declining, this final symphony is one of fond reflection. Together these unconventional works showcase Shostakovich’s range as a composer—from wild exuberance to quiet introspection.

London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, Conductor

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